Golden Gate Bridge wreck stalls commute traffic

Three people escaped with minor injuries after a head-on collision shut down the Golden Gate Bridge early Wednesday when a southbound motorist swerved into northbound traffic.

The wreck near Vista Point snarled commute traffic in both directions beginning at about 8:10 a.m.; although two southbound lanes remained open, all northbound lanes were shut for an hour. At 8:42, all southbound lanes were shut as well to allow access by tow trucks and emergency vehicles.

In addition, eight incidents of stalled vehicles in the northbound lanes and on Doyle Drive required periodic closing of bridge lanes to allow tow truck access, according to Mary Currie, bridge district spokeswoman.

Xing Lin, 32, of San Francisco was southbound in a 2004 Lexus at 45 mph when for reasons "under investigation" the car veered into northbound lanes, colliding with a Volkswagen driven by Victoria Seils, 30, of San Francisco. The Volkswagen spun across northbound lanes into a 2009 Honda Civic driven by Julia Russell, 25, of Tiburon.

"All vehicles came to rest in the lanes with major damage," Hohmeister reported.

"Traffic was moving again in both directions at about 9:17 a.m. with some intermittent tow truck activity continuing to access the stalls through to about 9:45 a.m.," Currie said. Russell and a passenger, Lauren Cooper, 26, were taken to Marin General Hospital with minor injuries; Seils was taken to Kaiser hospital in San Francisco with minor injuries. Lin was not hurt.

In an effort to prevent such collisions, the bridge district plans to install a $26.5 million moveable median barrier similar to the one that is on the new Doyle Drive. That will likely arrive in 2014 as a design is finalized.

Hohmeister noted that traffic remained heavy as tow trucks responded to "numerous additional disabled vehicles" stalled in the area.

The accident came as another storm swept into the North Bay, but the system quickly moved south after dumping about a half-inch of rain. No more rain is due in Marin for a week, forecasters said.

The rainfall made for a slow commute even before the bridge wreck and was blamed for several freeway spinouts, including one in southbound lanes near Sausalito.